California is often seen as a cultural bellwether in America – after all, it’s the epicenter of the entertainment and technology industries, and is currently led by a “Governor Moonbeam.”

As the late Chicago columnist Mike Royko said as far back as 1979, “If it babbles and its eyeballs are glazed, it probably comes from California.”

Apparently, not much has changed. California has passed a number of laws to take effect January 1st, and while some of them are disconcerting to say the least, there is one in particular that is downright jaw-dropping.

As Breitbart reports, high school students will no longer have to actually pass high school to receive a diploma. This takes the participation trophy concept to a new disgusting low.

SB 172 says: High school seniors will receive their diploma whether or not they pass or even take an exit exam; the law also applies retroactively to students who have graduated since 2004.”

As we’ve discussed here many times, if progressives want to ensure “equality of outcomes” for all, why even bother having sporting events? Why is California hosting the Super Bowl on February 7th? What difference does it make who wins? Everyone is a winner.

How can businesses properly evaluate prospective employees when “high school diploma” is required if it is essentially meaningless? Who does this actually help? Certainly not the students who “graduated” without mastering any basic skills.

But you can bet there will be a ginormous outcry when companies looking for entry-level employees start requiring application exams to determine if candidates can actually read and write beyond the 8th grade level.

So why stop at high school diplomas? Who needs a college degree? Why require physicians, accountants and lawyers to take exams to prove their knowledge? Or is California simply admitting its public education system is so worthless that a diploma from one of its high schools is as well?

It is terribly disheartening to see this nation, step by step, lose all appreciation for achievement and excellence. We would never have become the most powerful nation on earth without demanding high standards from ourselves, our countryman and our leaders. But clearly it no longer matters. Lying and criminal behavior no longer disqualify anyone from the presidency, so who cares about something as trivial as high school diploma?

If you don’t believe this is just the tip of the moral decline iceberg, here’s another disturbing law just passed:

AB 329: Makes participation in sex education courses mandatory for students unless parents opt-out, would also inculcate the teaching of a fluid gender identity

“Fluid gender?” I suppose that’s separate to the “gender fluids” discussed in the sex education course. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

I am trying to find the humor in all of this because it’s all so terribly sad.

[Note: This article was written by Michele Hickford]

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.

SB 172 suspends the current HS exit exam through 2017-2018. A State Panel or Committee is being formed to examine the HS exit exam process and make recommendation by 2018. Until then we do not know what it will be replaced with.

Even without the exam, only those who have completed all graduation requirements will receive a HS diploma. That is, you must have passed all required classes through grade 12, or have passed the GED exam (ironic).

To be blunt, this is basically to appeal to the Hispanic immigrant vote here.